Improvement in chairs



No. 202,505. Patented April 16,187.8.

UNITED STATES PATENT OEEIcE.

JUSTUS ASK, OF SALEM, OHIO.

l IMPROVEMENT IN CHAIRS.

Specicaton forming part of Letters Patent No. 202,505, dated April 16, 1878; application filed July 1s, 1877.

ings, and to letters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

The invention relates to that class of furniture which is so constructed that it may be packed and transported in parts, and put together for use by skilled or unskilled persons. I shall hereinafter describe my invention as of a construction of chairs; but it is obvious that the same devices or slight modifications thereof, and the same combinations of devices,

y are applicable alike to all classes of seatingfurniture, as lounges, sofas, tte-a-ttes, andv the like.

The object of my invention is to improve the manufacture of such furniture in the particulars of durability, ease of construction, convenience in handling, shipping, and cleaning, without impairing the beauty of the `article or detracting from its simplicity.

The invention consists in certain devices and vcombinations of devices, which will hereinafter appear from the description and drawings, and which I shall specify in. the claims.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, Figure lis a front elevation of a chair embracing my improvements; Fig. 2, a vertical section, showing the manner of attaching the back and arms; Fig. 3, the back detached; Fig. 4, a detail, showing the springeatch for holding the seat; Fig. 5, a bottom view of the seat, and Fig. 6 one of the chair-arms.

In constructing a chair, the legs A for the two sides are framed and put together with a side slat or rail, a, for each side. This rail a is provided witha mortise at or near its middle, through which passes a cross rail, b, framed into it, and secured by keys c, or by a pin or button. The legs are thus locked iirmly together.

The upper back parts of the legs are provided with slots or grooves d, Fig. 2, into separate, and is held in place by doWel-pins in the tops of the front legs. Gains or slots j in the back part ofthe sides of the scat, which hug the back posts, and catches k, inserted in or attached to the inner sides of the leg-frame, which engage with metallic bearings Zon the under side of the seat, are the devices which secure the seat.

'Ihe chair is also provided with arms D, when desired. The arms are attached by slotting the inner or front sides'of the back posts B at m m, which slots receive hook-irons a of the back end of the arms, which hook-irons are secured by a simple pin or key. The outer ends of the arms are provided with tenons o, which pass into mortises p in the seat and p in the leg-frame, and are secured by pins q passing through from the inner sides of the leg-frame and the lower ends of the tenons. The slots m are sufficiently long to permit the hook-irons n to rise above their securing-pins and out of the slot when the chairV is to be taken to pieces.

For fine Work, the slots cut in the front sides of the back posts are covered neatly by a piece, r, dovetailed, and neatly adjusted to slide up out of the way of the arms when it is desired to remove them or take the chair to pieces. The center-piece E of the back is made removable, as is also the center-piece F of the seat. They are secured by bevel-joint.

The ordinary brace-arms of chairs are conA stantly breaking, and my method of securing the arms is intended to obviate this, while carrying out the principle of constructing a chair to be put together piecemeal and taken apart for storage, packing, and transporta tion.

The movable pieces E and F are designed for cleaning and packing purposes, and the movable seat-pieceis especially useful in adapting the chair for sick-room purposes.

From the foregoing description it will be readily understood by those skilled in the art that the chair is taken apart by removing the arms first, the seat next, the back next, and so on until every part is separated.

The arms, when used, lock the seat, legs, and back iirmly together. The gains j in the seat act as lateral braces to the back posts of the chair, and Ward off strain from the hookiron locks.

I claiml. The back posts B, beveled and provided with hook-irons e, in combination with the rear posts A, having slits d, substantially as described.

2. The back posts, beveled and provided with hook-irons, in combination, With the rear posts,` having slits, and the gains j of the seat-frame C, through which said back posts B pass, substantially as described.

3. The leg-frame A, with the catches 7c, and the seat-frame (l, With the bearing-straps l, in combination With doWel-pins z', as and for the purpose described.

4. The chair-arms D, provided at one end With a hook-iron, n, adapted to it in a slit, m., in the back posts B, and at the other end with a tenon, o, adapted to be held in a mortise, p p', through the seat and in the legframe.

5. The covering-piece r for the back-post slit, dovetailed and adapted to slide up and down to permit of the arms adjustment, as described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I have affixed my signature in the presence of two Witnesses.

J USTUS ASK.

Witnesses:

FRANK D. RoADs, J oHN R. WILLIAMS. 

